Insights about the current situation in Egypt

I know many people who are not living in Egypt are wondering, what's going on. I will try to explain what happened last week but before reaching to this point, i'll try to brief the background of the political status since the revolution because we can't judge the current events without looking on the history.
I put links of old posts that give more details about certain events.

Before 25 Jan 2011

Egypt political scene was far from democratic although it was under the name of democracy. Police & media, were under control of the state to serve those who are in charge. Elections were frauded, people were not interested in politics except for a few brave who tried to fight for more democracy risking everything.

Providing for a family was a big challenge, a lot of unemployment, lack of good education, high cost of living, lack of medical service.

The gap between the rich and the poor increased year over year, in summary, no social justice

25 January 2011 (18 days of revolution)

The calls for protests started on facebook and spread widely. It was first to protest against police, in commemoration of Khaled Said who was killed by police brutality then claimed he committed suicide.

The protests called "change, freedom, social justice". It started on the 25th then the biggest day, the 28th (Friday of Rage), were the security forces faced the big crowds with brutality, killing a lot. Police stations were attacked that night, some thugs made roberies to create chaos & terror after the police deserted the streets, then the army took over to control secuity.

The regime made all it could to stay in power till Moubarak stepped down in 11 February.

For more details on this period check the following post: We all woke up :)

Referendum 19 March 2011

The referendum was on several closes, including to work first on constitution or elections (parliamentary & presidential). This was a big mistake by the SCAF (Supreme Council of Armed Forces) who were in charge at that time. It created the first disagreement between people. Some "so called" islamists were preaching and asking people to vote Yes to go to heaven. It was the first time to see politicians mixing religion to steet the public opinion towards a certain direction.

In my opinion, the constitution should have been put first because it is the contract to govern how everything will work. A problem, we had to discover later, in the hardest way.

Mohamed Mahmoud Clashes - November 2011

Clashes in Mohamed Mahmoud Street just beside Tahrir Square. The ministry of interior (MOI) is close but is not in this street, however they were defending it from the protestors. These clashes left deads & injured, many young people lost their sights.

25 January 2012

SCAF was still ruling. After one year from revolution, still no one was tried for killing the protesters. The retribution of martyrs was not yet achieved. Military trials of civilians were still on-going, among which many innocent people.
People went in the streets to protest against SCAF while the Muslim Brotherhood were partying in Tahrir Square. They had already won majority of seats in the parliament although before elections they said they won't compete for all seats (not keeping their words as always).
My account regarding that day 25 Jan reloaded

Presidential Elections June 2012

After more than a year, came the time to elect a president. At that time, still no constitution so the job description of the president was not yet defined. If for example we will have a complete presidential system or parliamentary one or mix of both.
There were 2 rounds, the 2 winners from the 1st round were Mohamed Morsi (Muslim Brotherhood) although before elections again they said the won't compete at all & Ahmed Shafik (the last appointed Prime Minister before Moubarak stepped down, and before that Minister of Aviation and on top a miliary).

Without going into details, people voted mainly for the one just cos they didn't want the other to win.

Official results were close, as Morsi won but 51.73%. Some claims that there were some frauds and actually Shafik won but they had to announce Morsi as winner because the MB had threatened in case Shafik won to retaliate in streets.

My thoughts, just before the 2nd round Egypt's Presidential elections 2012

6 October Celebration 2012

Every year, 6 of October victory is celebrated. That year, Morsi invited people, who mostly turned out to be his supporters to the indoor stadium. Not only that but among the guests was one of the people who was charged of the murder of President Sadat that won the war in 1973. How ironic.

Also Morsi made a speech about his 100 days of ruling. He talked with numbers that didn't reflect the reality like solving the traffic issue or security problems.

Presidential decree of 22 November 2012

Out of nowhere, Morsi made a presidential decree giving him more powers, not to be accounted for any decisions he took or will take. He dismissed the current general prosecutor and appointed a new one. Some people were already asking to dismiss this general prosecutor but the way it was done and the direct appointment of another one raised questions.There was a crisis between the judges and the president.
Also, at by that time the constitutional court had disolved the parliament as the election law was unconstitutional. The same for the Shoura council but as it was making the constitution Morsi in his decree made it not to be disovled.

This presidential decree was the turning point to reunite opposition. It was the point that made a clear separation between the 2 camps, those with the president and those against him.

Million of people went in the streets, in Cairo and elsewhere.
A sit-in started in front of presidential palace for several days. Unfortunately, pro Morsi attacked the sit-in to disperse the people at a time where few were there and clashes erupted with people killed from both side.

Pro Morsi detained some of the protesters and tortured them according to the testimony of the detainees after they were sent to the police. They were afterwards released and as a reward by the general prosecutor, the one who made this decision was transfered to another city and those who committed the tortures and detention were not charged.

More details in this post: Tahrir Square is back

30 June 2013 - 3 July 2013

Biggest demonstrations i've ever seen. Millions of people all over the streets saying just "leave" to Morsi. 22 million people signed the "tamarod" (rebellion) form because they thought that after 1 year, Morsi and them MB didn't keep any promise.

Up till that moment, the performance of the government and prime minister was very poor. The ministers chosen were mainly people they, the Muslim Brotherhood trust, not people with the right experience.
Just before the 30th of June, a member of the Jihadists of Gama'a Islameya was appointed governor of Luxor, the same group of people who killed toursits in Luxor in 1997. The newly appointed minister of culture who was not someone from the field started to dismiss people in position like the head of the Cairo Opera House who was actually doing a great job since she took charge of it. The artists, writers and other people started a sit-in in front of the ministry of culture to protest against him.

There were another incident, the killing of Shiite persons few days after a rally with the presence of Morsi to support Syria. In this rally, full of his supporters, one of the speakers made a hatred speach against the Shiite and the president didn't even comment on that as if he approves what was said.

There was political tension with Ethiopia after their decision to build a dam on the Nile which would impact our resource of water in Egypt. The way that Morsi & ministers handled this situation was far below what should have been done and they failed to contain this crisis.

Army gave Morsi an ultimatum of 48 hours to solve the problematic issues with the opposition. Before that there were the Army asked Morsi the same thing but nothing changed.
The 3rd of July, Al- Sissy, minister of defense and head of the army announced the deposition of Morsi putting him under house arrest and the decisionn of the interim president, the head of the supreme court.
Details about these events: Egypt is back!!! & Just few thoughts

14 August 2013

The dispersal of the 2 sit-ins of pro-Morsi in Rabaa El Adawya & El-Nahda took place. The sit-ins started after Morsi was deposed. Some people supported Morsi because he is the democratically elected president and their votes should be respected, other because they didn't want to go back to military rule.
There were reports that there were arms with some people in the sit-ins. Earlier in July, some pro-Morsi who were in the sit-ins of El-Nahda near Cairo University attacked citizens in Ben El- Sarayat and Manial leaving dead and injured. Some of the testimonies were horrific. This doesn't mean that all supporters are armed and want to perform violence but at the same time, it shows there was threats on people lives at some point.

There were on-going talks to solve the sit-in problems but with no results. One of the MB leaders announced on stage of Rabaa that the violence in Sinai (attacks on army & police) would stop if Morsi is returned back as president.
There was exchange of fire between security forces & some of the protesters. There were people who died on that day, many of them innocent and they were standing there for their believes to have a democratic country and also from the police forces. There are testimonies accusing both sides of use of force, accounts of protesters armed firing at the security forces and the security forces using arms in response. The dispersal of the sit-in started by the announcement that people should leave, then by tear gas. The one in Nahda took around 2 hours with no catualties. The one in Rabaa was till the night and with lot of killed people.

But at the same time, after the move of security forces to disperse the sit-in, police stations, churches and other government buildings were attacked in many cities to try to turn it into chaos.
So, the state of emergency is declared, up till now. Actually Egypt was under state of emergency for the last 30 years until it was removed recently. Also a curfew in many cities is on-going till now.

There were some demonstrations by pro-Morsi few days later and some of the people were armed as caught in cameras.
To argue that the sit-ins should be dispersed or not, whether force was used wrongly or it was the right thing to do will take us into long discussions and arguments.
Unfortunately, the media is not showing everything and some of them are focusing on one-side only. The government of the different countries are acting upon their own interests.

The people in Egypt are divided in 2 camps calling each other traitor and lot of people now hate more and more anything related to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The situation now is very complicated and it is bad that we had to reach this point but in order to go beyond this, we need all to unite together and see the bigger picture. People lost trust in each other and it will take time to regain it but at least we need to have faith that at the end most of us, want to have a better country although we argue about the ways to do it.

I know that in this post i didn't state all events that occured. I tried to give a glimpse but there are many details since the revolution has started.

There are no angels and everybody from all sides made mistakes. I believe that anyone who made a mistake, should be punished accordingly because at the end we want a country that is based on justice where everybody has equal rights. After all the revolution started with "Bread, Liberty, Human Dignity & Social Justice". 

Reporting from JMJ Rio 2013

So, i have been already 12 days in Rio but already so much to tell. It's difficult to say everything but i will do my best to remember as much as i can.
First, i found out that my name in Brazil is pronounced as 'Mariannie'. It sounds funny but i like it that way. Many brazilian don't know English so lot of time i try to communicate in Spanish. It's funny, as some of them don't even know Spanish but we manage to understand each other.
The spirit in this JMJ is very warm and joyful, specially that it's full of latinos from Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Mexico... they add a certain flavor to the whole event. I wish i can visit all these countries and get to know their culture. They are somehow like Egyptians, maybe that's why i enjoy seeing them everywhere.
My work as volunteer is with the communication team in social media. Basically i work in the social media, updating facebook and twitter for arabic language with the news from the JMJ so that people from around the world can watch what's happening wherever they are.  Today, I was working in the media center in the morning shift, then we were told that the Pope will pass by so they won't let people to come in or go out during a certain period. I hesitated to stay longer or leave and catch the welcoming ceremony itself in copacaban since my shift has finished. I decided to stay and actually it turned out to be better cos i've seen the Pope from a very close distance!! Actually we were asked later on to be human chains, those people who stand up to not let the crowd go beyond it. It was worth it cos i actually saw the Pope from a very short distance, passing through in his papamovel. I couldn't take photo for this moment but i will remember it. The Pope was smiling and he has a pure radiating face that captures you. No wonder, when you know how humble he is, in the little details we here from here and there. For example. he flew to Brazil in an ordinary flight like normal passengers, he met people in poor area, visited hospitals, and even prisons. His speeches are inspiring and I believe he is bringing a lot to the church.
Before yesterday we had the opening ceremony in Copacabana beach. It was very impressive, to have thousands of people all along the beach, first dancing and enjoying music then praying in the opening mass and following it on the big screens although it was raining. I had mixed feelings captured in between. Although i was away from the stage, i was completely taken by the prayers. I actually love the theme of this JMJ and the hymn. Christ invites us to be his missionaries "Go and make disciples of all nations".
Another amazing thing that actually surprised me is how people love Egypt. Whenever they see the flag, they just stop us to take a photo. One day i was carrying a small one as i forgot the big one at my accomodation, and a brazilian lady stopped me just to say how much she loves our country. I really feel proud for being Egyptian and representing my country to the whole world. Despite the problems and the bad habits we have, i feel so much love for Egypt and it will always remain in my heart. I really wish that we build the Egypt we want, the Egypt we are fighting for, and truly to be up the challenge. The world is watching us and many of the people respect us but we have a lot to achieve first.
One of the things i really love about the JMJ is that whenever you see someone carrying a JMJ bag, you can just go and talk to him or her. It's like we are a big family although we don't know each other. One day i was buying a juice to drink and one of the volunteers saw me and invited me to sit with the group. We just talk, sometimes we speak too many languages at the same time, sometimes we don't understand each other but still we enjoy it. Soemtimes, we meet again, in another place, sometimes not.. but this is the beauty of the JMJ. Also, from the traditions of the JMJ is to bring souvenirs to trade with each other.. so i have already some from several countries. I wish i have brought more but i didn't have much time before I travel with all the demonstrations going on in Egypt.
Anyway, this was just a glimpse of what has been going on the past week. I will try to write another post soon. As for Brazil, it's another story. I will write more about Brazil the country later on.

Finally in Rio

I finally arrived in Rio before yesterday. It was a long trip, taking around 20 hours! But as soon as I arrived I felt as if transported to another placed time. I met a group of friends that I already know couple of months ago on whatsapp. It was so great to finally meet face to face.
Yesterday was very tyring because we had to get our volunteer kit. Arrived at the place at 12h30 but it was so crowded that we couldn't get our kits till 6pm as they were out of stock. It was so frustrating to wait all that time for nothing but still it was not that boring cos we were meeting people from all around the world, taking photos, chatting.. so after all that had to look for the place where I will sleep the next 2 weeks. Luckily was not lost and the girls who are with me are so nice.
Today we went back to get our volunteer kit and it was much better than yesterday as we didn't wait a very long time. After that around 30 of us went to a restaurant for lunch. It is unique as you pay according to the weight of the food but it seems that there are other restaurants like that in Brazil. I also tried assai which is kind of fruit.
After lunch we went back to the cathedral to attend the opening mass of volunteers. It was mainly in Portuguese but a friend was helping I translation. It was nice but the one in Germany in 2005 was more impressive as it was in a stadium
Tomorrow we will have our first training. I hope it will be nice and that I will have time to visit a little in Rio

Just few thoughts

Let's not spend a lof of time arguing is it a coup or a revolution but think beyond these words. 
These are some of my thoughts and reflections regarding what's going on.

Politics is and will always be a dirty game which is only about power. But we are in a state that we need to look beyond this or else we all will pay a lot.

President role, whomever is, is a big responsibility because he is leading the country. He should listen to everybody and keep his promises.
Morsi did several fatal mistakes in my opinion: the constitutional decree of November, the way of issuing the constitution, his speeches which didn't target all the nation, what happened at Itihadeya, keeping a government that is a big failure, allowing hatred & racial speeches in his presence, way of handling crisis like the Ethiopian dam and finally, the core project of his electoral campaign turned out to be just on papers.
People signed "Tamarod" and went in the streets because he failed in that.

Posts about protests against consititutional decree: Back to streets and Tahrir Square is back

SCAF (Supreme Council of Armed Forces) did a lot of mistakes while ruling after Moubarak has stepped down. Many injustice happened starting from military trials for civilians, referendum on constitution or president first, and not putting a clear roadmap.
Post about protests against SCAF on the 1st memory of 25th Jan Revolution: 25th Jan reloaded


Army now, which has not the same function sa the SCAF, put a roadmap although without a clear timeline. At least, the power now is with an interim civilian president and the roadmap they announced was after consulting the different parties. 

Opposition failed the people because they were not united. They tried many times to do something but they failed. Tamarod campain was able to reach those we call the couch party (7ezb el canaba) because they were not affiliated to a certain party, they offered the people a way to express their discontent for the failure of the whole system and their feeling of being discarded.

The MB were wrong acting for their own benefits and not for Egypt. Some of them posting hatred & violent messages along the past year, defending everything with force & the arm.
They did good job to win in different elections but the way they were acting did them more harm than good. 
They made deals with old regime (with Omar Soliman) and with SCAF (celebrating 25th Jan in Tahrir Square while people in the street chanting against SCAF).

People who supported Morsi and feel that they were betrayed because this is against their will and their votes. I agree, you have all the rights because we should use the system and stick with it. I wanted Morsi to ask for a referendum or call for earlier elections but he didn't.

People who went in the streets on 30th of June, asking Morsi to leave were even more than those who voted for him. Whatever their motives or reasons are, they feel that we can't continue with Morsi.

Why some of the accused people in crimes were released by the president? Why in Sinai there are now attacks army and police with weapon? This raises a lot of questions.
Why in the celebration of 6th October 1973 victory the killer of El-Sadat was among the audience?

The general prosecutor was deposed wrongly by Morsi but i believe he should be go away.
The general prosecutor that was assigned by Morsi did a lot of things mostly against activists which raises a lot of questions.
There should be a new general prosecutor chosen in the legal ways.

Closing some channels without legal ways is wrong even though some of these channels were broadcasting hatred messages. 

Arresting any person, inlcuding MBs should be only based on legal ways. So, whoever is in power should come clean to the people and state why people are arrested.

The main issue is that the will of the people is the source of power. Democracy is not just winning elections but listening to everybody which Morsi failed to do, on purpose or not and acting as president for all Egyptians.
Democracy is a big word that we are still trying to assimilate but we need to listen to each other, understand the motives and discuss together to reach the best solution for all.

Everybody did mistakes (Opposition, Morsi, MB, SCAF, Army, Police...). It's normal because this is life. But what's important is to learn from these mistakes and work together for the good of Egypt.

The current roadmap proposed by army. If they really stick with it then I believe this is the way out for Egypt from the situation we are stuck in for more than 2 years now.
- Interim president for this transition period
- New government. I believe the majority agrees that the government of Hisham Kandil was incompetent and there were many people calling for its change but it was not
- Suspension of constitution till adjusting the articles with big concerns (already Morsi promised to change these articles but didn't take any actions but words)
- Prepare a law for parilamentary elections
- Parliamentary elections
- Early presidential elections

Finally I believe that justice shall prevail no matter what.
i believe in only peaceful ways. 
Let's not forget the revolution first demands in 2011: Bread, Freedom & Human Dignity.
I have faith in Egypt & Egyptians.
God Bless Egypt!

Egypt is back!!!

I don't know from where to start. I wanted to write earlier about what's happening but things went to quickly that it is over now!
Couple of months ago, a campaign called "tamarod" (rebellion) initiated but young people who believed their voice should be heard started. The call was simple, sign a piece of paper if you no longer wants the president to rule Egypt. This small campaign managed to gather 22 millions signature, which is more than those who elected the president.
There were calls to go on marches on the 30th of June, which marked one year for the rule of Morsi. People started to demonstrate in several places in Cairo and Egypt from the weekend before the 30th. The army already secured the sensitive areas around Cairo and other cities to prevent any problems that might occur.
On the 30th, millions went in the streets in all over Egypt. The number of people demonstrating was much more that those who went in the streets during the revolution in January 2011.

This video taken by army helicopters show the demonstrations in only 2 locations in Cairo, Tahrir Square and the area of the presidential palace (Itihadeya).

The demonstrations were so peaceful, people carrying flags, banners and red cards to expel the president (like in football).

The following day, 1st of July, the army made a statement that the president has 48 hours to solve the issues with the opposition and propose solutions. This step was cheered by protestors. They continued to go in big numbers in the different places.

On my way to Itihadeya, 1 hour after the statement, cars are honking, people with flags, everyone is cheering and so happy. You can see it on their faces, so proud and confident that the end is near.

People are singing the Egyptian national anthem at Itihadeya

There was no word from the presidency to that ultimatum till the following day, 2nd of July. And Morsi came up with a speech, talking about legitimacy and that he is the democratic elected president of Egypt. He forgot that it is the people who give this legitimacy. He forgot that democracy is not just an election but it is a behavior, to include everybody in the decision making and shaping of the country, to listen to the opposition, which he failed to do. He only listened to his clan, to his group of Muslim Brotherhood. He ignored the people and with time, more people were opposing him. He succeeded only to unit everybody else against him and his clan. The speech even was threatening anyone opposing him.
Nevertheless, the protest continued. People didn't give up despite the heat. Many people who never went in any demonstrations actually went during the past few days.

Everybody was anticipating the end of the deadline given by the army on the 3rd of July. Around the afternoon, just after i went to Tahrir square with my family, we heard on the TV that Morsi is under arrest. You can't imagine the joy and jubilation of the crowd at this specific moment, as if we won the world cup. But it was something more and deeper. Everybody passing by telling us "Mabrouk" (congratulations). We were still waiting for the statement of the army but we already knew that it's the people's will that prevailed.

Finally few hours later came the statement of the army after meeting with different political leaders & youth from rebellion campain: suspension of constitutionn, new presidential elections, new government, head of supreme court to assume the role of president temporarly, preparation of new law for parlimantery elections.
This is a day to remember and history is being rewritten.

YESSSS!!! WE DID IT!!!!

This proves that the will of people is above all. Egyptians proved that we can change everything peacefully. I actually had faith in the people after the revolution of 25 January 2011. Before that, i thought that people don't care about anything but after the revolution i changed my mind and i knew that the fear of silence is no longer there and no matter who will come to rule us, if he doesn't respect the will of the people, they will not stand in silence. Even if the ruler made everything to stay in power, no one can defy the people any longer. People elected Morsi to satisfy their needs which he failed to do.
This is a clear message to anyone, if you don't respect the will of the people, you should not lead them.
For the foreign media who still think that this is a military coup, i tell them it's a people's revolution.
Finally, i know we still have a long road ahead, we have lot of problems but I believe that no matter what, we will make it at the end. I have faith in Egyptians and i believe now, even those who lost hope along the way, are the first to regain it.

GOD BLESS EGYPT

The right of killing

I can't imagine that some people think they have the right to kill a human being, regardless of the reason (war,   theft, revenge, race, religion....).

We didn't give life so we can't take it out, as simple as that. No matter what happened, even if it is the worst person on earth, we can't just kill to get rid of.

I can't imagine how come that even if not killing with their own hands, some people actually call for it, or if witnissing it, they just watch calmly.

Where is our humanity? Did our world of technology made us cold blooded?

Why we always look for the killer who carries out the killing with his own hand but we don't look for the spiritual killers?

Why if we can't accept the other who is different, we try to erase his existence spiritually or physically?

Too many questions without an answer, and they will remain as long as more people die everyday...

Demonstrations and protests

Last week I was in Istanbul, where there was sit-in and demonstrations against the government. I couldn't pass by and see what's going on but the rest of the city was not affected. People go to work, tourists everywhere. The only inconvenience was the heavy rain in the mornings. But still, this doesn't mean that everything is perfect.
At the same time there are demonstrations in Brazil. People are angry because of the cost of the world cup and the lack of money spending on health, education and other important issues.they are asking for their rights not for having something nice like the Worldcup lord the Olympics.
Next week we have in Egypt big demonstrations to protest against the president and the muslim brotherhood due to all what is going on in the past year
3 countries, different reasons but one goal, to change the current situation because people believe things should improve. Some protests are peaceful, others might turn to violence but tais doesn't really matter. What matters is to not only dream of a better place but to actually stand up and make an action. It is time to fight for the world we want, it is time to reunite for one goal which is a better world for us and for the next generations. If we don't fight then nothing will change and could even get worse.
I wish that all the leaders start to realize that they are there to serve the people and if the can't do their job right they should leave it to someone else. It is time for the world to realize that injustice should no longer be tolerated.
I don't know how things will turn out, in Egypt, Brazil or Turkey. But I know that the wind of change is coming whether you like or not.

Letters of Joy

A group of JMJ voluntarios (volunteers) decided to create a page on facebook to exchange addresses and each one to pick 5 others (3 international & 2 brazilians) to write them letters. Yes, letters, in the old fashion way.

Yesterday, when back home i discovered 4 letters from Brazil waiting for me. I was so excited to open each one of them. I knew that some had picked my name to write me a letter but to receive all 4 together at the same time was even better. I didn't know the senders in person so it was so cool to read what they have wrote, in English, Portuguese and even one took the trouble to translate a part in arabic just for me!. I felt so special receiving those letters of Joy as i call them. I remembered when i was young, and used to have pen pals from other countries. It is not the same as nowadays where we are almost connected all the time virtually. Reading and writing letters is a different story because it's part of a long process. You actually put effort to write what you have in mind, to choose the paper to write in, to put stamps on the enveloppe and to wait for the answer of your letter. 

I'm happy because i'm making new friends and getting away from the virtual world we are submerged in. At least it's not a fake place where people are just polite enough to write you something on your facebook wall or comment on a status, it's much deeper because it's from the heart.

Well, i think you should all try to write letters and send to your friends the old fashion way, it might be strange but sure it will be somehow exciting!

Just 2 months left!!!

Yes, it's true! the countdown to Rio is approaching. 2 months from now i'll be away in a new adventure. But this time, it's totally different. Along the way, even way before going there, i'm making new friends from all around the world. It is true that with all the new gadgets and technology we use nowadays, it's easier to find each other and build this bond between us.
Some people decided to welcome us in a different way, sending postcards & letters. Yes, the old fashioned way, writing on a piece of paper, putting in an enveloppe and sending it all the way like the old pen pals days. I remember when i used to write to people i haven't seen before and we became sort of friends.
It's super exciting and can't wait to receive my share from those postcards :)

Rules for Life

Notes before reading:
These rules are applicable anytime, anywhere.
They are not ordered by priority.
These are not the only rules, more to be added as life goes on

Rule #1: Don't think people will treat you the same, so do as it pleases you without waiting for something in return

Rule #2: Don't put high hopes on people so you don't feel hurt or disappointed if they are not up to your expactations. Your standards will always be higher than the actual.

Rule #3: The person that will care the most about you is yourself, so don't waist time in fighting yourself

Rule #4: Be happy if someone texts you or send you a nice greetings online, it means you are still on his/her contact list

Rule #5: Life is too short to waist for nothing, so just start living it

Rule #6: Family are the only people who will love you no matter what. So take the opportunity of any available time, even if little, and spend it with them

On the Road to JMJ RIO 2013

I lived an amazing experience in 2005, volunteering in World Youth Day (JMJ) in Cologne. I tried to document my experience but i couldn't catch every moment in a picture or a blog. I decided to start earlier for this year and just put all what I live during this whole journey to make it last forever.

There are still couple of months to go before going to Rio in July but this time, it all started much earlier. After 2005, i tried to go back again to the JMJ. In 2008, it was held in Sydney and i was at first excited to go and discover there but i couldn't take vacation at that time and also the flight tickets were so expensive so i decided to skip it. In 2011 it was in Madrid. I was so excited cos Spain was on the top of the countries i would love to visit someday and i actually applied but then, when they asked for a small paper to be signed by a priest saying i'm Catholic, i asked them what if i'm not and they didn't accept me to volunteer. I was so upset but I respected that and i didn't try to push it further. That year, I went though to Paris and Barcelona with my friends and actually i had a great time with them so I think, probably this is what was planned for me. Anyway, when Rio was announced for 2013 I was so excited. It's like wow, it's a great place to visit and unlikely i would have the chance to go as it is already expensive to fly to Brazil. I waited maybe a year till they put the online registration for volunteers, and when I got the email saying i'm accepted and asking me to send the documents i was so excited. From the beginning I asked if it is ok not being Catholic, based on what happened for Madrid and I was told no problem.. So after sending everything and actually seeing the list with my name, i discovered that 2 friends are going too. We tried to arrange for our trip together and we booked the flight tickets. Months later, in mid March, i received an email saying i can't participate. It was a real chock and I was so angry because we are all Christians and at the end, i'm doing a service for people and it doesn't matter in which church I was baptised. My friends even tell me that i'm more Catholic than Orthodox, actually everybody at first thinks i'm Catholic. This time, I tried to send emails, my friends tried to help me and to make my complaint reach but what really touched me was people reacting to my post on faceook in which I said what happened. Volunteers from everywhere in the world decided to make an action  and write a petition to let me back in the list and it really worked. I didn't believe much that it would make any impact but when I saw the email 3 weeks later, that the organization requested my presence, I couldn't believe my eyes. I remembered a friend who actually told me it will be sorted out and that even if not, i should go anyway since i have already my tickets. He was totally right. Also the discussions on facebook and how people, i didn't actually know, showed their support. This was one of the rare moments I felt really the power of people and how caring about others really make a difference, even if my problem was not sorted out. Also, I felt that this year, the experience will be so much different.

Some of the people on facebook decided to make a whatsapp group. We call this group a 24/7 because it is  all the time on due to the different time zones. We are around 50 people from Singapore to Ecuador, almost from all contients, except Australia. it's so amazing how people who don't know each other, have so much to say. We discuss lot of things on the group, regarding the organization for the JMJ, funny stuff, food, music, dance, faith, languages, culture. It's a true melting pot. I didn't imaging when embarking in this adventure that i would get so many friends so soon, before actually going to the JMJ.

I believe that this will be quite a journey, that's why i will try to write about it and hope i will continue till the end...

So stay tuned for the next edition!

Official site: http://www.rio2013.com